On its surface, the work of Shira Berkowtiz and Kristin Fleischmann Brewer is very different. Berkowitz creates sound and video pieces, pulling from various sources, both personal and from nature. Often minimal in approach, the results of these quiet explorations can be both calm and jarring: “solitude which might be a lovely thought, and the eerie places our minds wander when there’s quiet but not peacefulness”. Fleischmann Brewer’s work is based in painting but often takes form in sculpture, pursuing ambiguity between the physicality of the material and examining differences connecting abstraction and representation: “finding meaning through a dynamic cycle of production which includes formal strategies and a process of construction and deconstruction.” Through-lines between both artists work are speed (tempo), form (gravity), menace and delight. The resulting exhibition finds its cohesion where pacing and strategy both overlap and are at odds.

February 6 – March 7, 2015

Opening reception: Friday, February 6, 2015 from 6-9p.

Additional hours for this exhibition will be Wednesday, Friday & Saturdays from 1-6p.

The Des Lee Gallery is pleased to announce the BFA exhibition Living Room Deities by Anya Kavanaugh, a December 2014 graduate.

A purely aesthetic object is intended to be gazed upon and contemplated. During such contemplation, a painting’s self-awareness can create a contractual understanding between the viewer and the object about one’s place outside the other, both physically and metaphysically. The human mind’s remarkable ability to displace itself from the body’s finiteness can enable a complete immersion into the opposing world. When gazing upon a work, the mind becomes a pawn on the chess board that is the object on the wall. Once the object has achieved checkmate over the viewer, the two work together to engage in a dialogue about the consistency of the human condition and its experience of beauty. The expressionistic style throughout my oil paintings, drawings, gifs, videos, photographs, and collages heightens the presence of my hand as the artist; however, the lack of an inscribed signature allows the work to exist within its own mythology outside of myself in order to speak of universal truths of the human condition. The everyday and the extraordinary fuse as fashion models are thrown into domestic environments and the viewer is thrown into mythology.